1 online resource (218 pages)

In Critical Children, Richard Locke follows child characters in classic novels for adults and their use in exploring or evading social, psychological, and moral problems. Moving from Dickens's Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Pip in Great Expectations to Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn; from Henry James's Miles and Flora in The Turn of the Screw to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and his modern American descendent, J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye; and finally to Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita and Philip Roth's Alexander Portnoy

Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction -- Charles Dickens's heroic victims: Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Pip -- Mark Twain's free spirits and slaves: Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn -- Henry James's demonic lambs: Miles and Flora in The turn of the screw -- J.M. Barrie's eternal narcissist: Peter Pan -- J.D. Salinger's saintly dropout: Holden Caulfield -- Vladimir Nabokov's abused nymph: Lolita -- Philip Roth's performing loudmouth: Alexander Portnoy

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